Does It Ever
by DySolo
Summary: Future fic. At a Christmas party, Reid is reacquainted with someone from his past that reintroduces a lost feeling. Onesided Reid/Lila


**Title: Does It Ever Go Away?  
>Pairing: One sided ReidLila  
>Author's Note: Song prompt: Adele - Someone like You.<br>**

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><p>It had been years. After losing Emily the first time, things had changed. The team was never as strong as it had been in those four years she had been apart of team. Something had clicked. Elle had been a great addition in her time, but after Emily joined the team, the team got better. She was the perfect addition and a strong woman that could handle the emotional and physical aspects of the job. The Lauren incident had only proved that. And when she came back, it was good at first. She was back, but she wasn't the same. And they weren't either. He knows he wasn't. The one more loss had just been too much and even though, she did end up coming back, it just wasn't the same, even after JJ also rejoined the team. Hotch eventually left to bigger and better things. Rossi re-retired. Morgan moved to New York. Garcia got married to Kevin and eventually the two moved to New York as well to be closer to Morgan, which had seemed like the right thing to do. The two were too close to be three hours apart. Which had left JJ, him and Emily, and eventually Emily left too. He became the Unit Chief, which still to this day felt awkward. He started to understand why Hotch didn't smile and why Gideon had ran away. He began to understand deeper on why Emily hated politics, but the BAU was his home and unlike everyone else…he couldn't leave it.<p>

He watches as people from all of the departments linger. It's Christmas 2025 and unlike before, he is unable to skip out on the annual Christmas parties. He sits in the corner, sipping scotch, people watching. Everyone has their quirks, their giveaways and he can read them all. He still unsure if it would be considered a blessing or a curse.

"Dr. Reid?" A voice pulls his attention away and he turns his head to the side to see a blonde woman, smiling at him. "It is you. Spence, Wow."

He looks at the woman, confused. He doesn't recognize her at first, but the longer he stares, she reminds him of someone from the past. Still, he's not completely certain it could be her.

"It's been so many years. It's Lila."

Lila Archer. The woman from the pool. The first woman that he had ever kissed and felt something more than disgust of sharing bacteria and other germs with. He feels a smile overcome his face without forcing one. "Lila?"

She smiles even wider when he says her name and he frowns.

"What are you doing here?" He asks, looking around. It makes no sense for her to be here.

"Oh, my husband is a…"

The word husband freezes him and his mind blocks out the rest of the words. The woman that he fantasized about for years after their one night together was married and obviously happy. He nods, even though he's not listening, as his throat burns. He knows that he never called her, too nervous and unsure of himself, but he had always hoped that maybe their paths would cross again. It was juvenile and the likelihood had been slim, he knows, but he had hoped. She had been the one that made the romantic tales from Shakespeare and the other authors his mother had read to him seem possible. He had hoped that something like the novels he had read repeatedly as a child could have appeared in real life. He swallows the disappointment and tries to listen as she continues to talk, catching him up on her life. It appears that she had stayed in touch with the local authorities that had been on her case and eventually fell in love with an agent that had worked in Los Angeles. They had married and had two children. He stares at the picture of a Lila he remembered holding a beautiful boy and then another of a slightly older version of her with a toddler with unruly hair smiling large, his face and her face pressed against an infant little girls and at last, a more recent picture of the whole perfect family. He gives her the best smile he can muster before excusing himself, standing up.

She surprises him by wrapping her arms around his neck and tugging him close into a hug. He tenses immediately before his hands wrap around her slowly. He pulls her close, breathing her in. He knows that smell is the sense most closely related to memory and it only takes seconds for him to recall every moment they shared together. He pulls back and she raises her chin up to look him in the eyes.

"I never got a chance to thank you again. I… you saved my life. You gave me a chance to have all of this and…" She smiles and he sees her eyes glass over. "Thank you."

He gives a brief nod before he pulls away. "It was nice seeing you again." He says, before he moves to the door. He moves through the banquet hall until he reaches the safety of outside, breathing in the cool air.

Romance had never been a priority for him. There were too many deaths related to passion and love and… honestly, he had just never felt that spark again after Lila. Which was ridiculous. They had been less than 48 hours together and yet, seeing her again left him with the same feeling he had, staring at a magazine cover before slipping it into his desk all those years ago. Did the feeling ever go away, he had asked Morgan. And now, he finally had his answer. 


End file.
